Domestic automobile sales continued to decline in December with the overall sectoral off-take plunging 13.08 per cent on a year-on-year basis, data showed on Friday.

As per the data furnished by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), the sector's total sales declined to 14,05,776 units in December from 16,17,398 units sold during the corresponding month of the previous year.

In terms of the calendar year, the 2019 sales decline is the worst ever in the last 20 years.

The off-take of commercial vehicles took a major hit with sales declining 12.32 per cent to 66,622 units, compared to 75,984 units in December 2018.

Medium and Heavy Commercial vehicles were a major victim of the ongoing slowdown as sales fell 31.70 per cent to 31,314 units.

Shamsher Dewan, Vice President, Corporate Sector ratings, ICRA, said: "During December 2019, the focus by CV OEMs continued to be on paring down inventory levels at dealerships, especially for the Goods Carrier segment, considering the impending transition to BS-VI emission norms within a quarter and dealer inventory of more than a month."

He said that wholesale dispatches of Medium and Heavy Commercial Vehicles and light commercial vehicles contracted by 43 per cent and 1 per cent on a YoY basis.

Wholesale dispatches of the bus segment, on the other hand, has been improving over the past quarter, Dewan added.

Passenger vehicle sales declined by 1.24 per cent during the month on a year-on-year basis to 2,38,753 units. Two-wheeler sales were recorded at 1,259,007 units, lower by 16.60 per cent for a year ago period.

"Robust growth (30 per cent YoY) in the UV segment, supported by new launches like Hyundai Venue, Renault Triber, Kia Seltos and MG Hector arrested PV wholesale decline to 1.2 per cent. Retail enquiries are showing some signs of recovery, which augurs well for the industry," said Ashish Modani, Vice President, Corporate Sector ratings, ICRA.

"Exports witnessed growth of 9.9 per cent to 66,073 units, mainly due to incremental contribution of 6,341 units by Kia Motors, which otherwise could be flattish," he said.

However, bucking the larger trend, sales in the three-wheeler segment, which includes both goods and passenger carriers, rose by 22.10 per cent to 43,650 units in December 2019.

Overall exports too witnessed a dip of 8.75 per cent at 3,77,472 units last month.

On the production front, total production last moth stood at 19,16,213 units, lower by 5.22 per cent. Manufacturing of commercial vehicles stood at 62,021 units, lower by 9.76 per cent on a year-on-year basis.

A total of 2,58,391 passenger vehicles were produced in the country in December 2019, 3.11 per cent lower than 2,66,686 units during the same month in 2019.